2A Season In Review

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! The 2021 football season has come and gone. Once again, the football season has just flown by. A little over a week removed from the final football games of the 2021 season, we officially begin our postseason coverage. We continue things today with our season in review series. Every day, for the next week, we’ll be taking a look back at the 2021 football season in each class. We continue the series today with Class 2A. Stay tuned to Prep Redzone Oklahoma throughout the next three weeks for more postseason coverage. From season in review features, to All State teams and plenty of awards, we’ll have you covered! STATE CHAMPION Marlow Outlaws For the first time since 1964, the Marlow Outlaws are state champions. Marlow came into this season as the #8 team in our Class 2A preseason rankings. Goes to show you how things end up shaking out in between July and December. The Outlaws were simply perfect on their way to that state championship, finishing off the season with a perfect 15-0 record. We knew that the Outlaws had one of the best players in the state with senior [player_tooltip player_id="38755" first="Jace" last="Gilbert"] and he showed once again that in some of the smaller classes, all it takes is having that one truly special talent to make a run at the title. The Outlaws were the heavy favorite in their district and opened the season with dominating wins in the non-district schedule and got impressive wins over Chickasha and Anadarko in back to back weeks. Marlow would not be tested during district play as they absolutely dismantled every opponent during the regular season. Marlow would finish off the regular season at 10-0 and were one of the favorites in Class 2A going into the playoffs. Nothing would really change as the Outlaws entered the playoffs as they dismantled every team they came across. They would have to travel to Tulsa to face Cascia Hall and the Outlaws ended the Commandos' season, winning 38-7 and punching their ticket to the semifinal round. From there, Marlow would knock off Eufaula in the semifinals in what ended up being their closest game other than the championship and even that was a 12-point victory for the Outlaws. In the state championship, Marlow would square off with Washington in a battle between two teams that were undefeated. Marlow would use turnovers, timely scoring and excellent punting to control the field position battle. And in the end, it was another costly Washington turnover that would give Marlow the ball with less than two minutes remaining and they were able to run out the rest of the clock to capture that elusive state championship. CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0mgyXoxYfHs" width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> PLAYER OF THE YEAR [player_tooltip player_id="38755" first="Jace" last="Gilbert"] - 2022 Quarterback/Kicker - Marlow Few players can say they are responsible for just about every point scored during the season but that’s what you can say about Marlow senior <a class="pn-player-link" href="https://prepredzone.com/player/jace-gilbert/">[player_tooltip player_id="38755" first="Jace" last="Gilbert"]<img class=" ls-is-cached lazyloaded" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/12/FB-2A-Championship-39-150x150.jpg" data-src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/12/FB-2A-Championship-39-150x150.jpg" /></a>. One of the state’s best kickers, Gilbert showed he’s just an overall athlete by helping lead the Outlaws to their first state championship in decades. Gilbert was outstanding at quarterback with a 28-2 TD-INT ratio and also added 17 touchdowns on the ground. Gilbert was about as automatic as it got when it came to PAT’s and he was 9-12 on field goals. He was also a weapon on kick offs and as a punter. As a punter, Gilbert was special in their state championship victory over Washington. During their playoff run, Gilbert also stepped in and played on defense at the safety position. Gilbert gave just about everything he had to help the Outlaws capture that elusive state championship. As a prospect, Gilbert is one of the best kickers in the country but he showed this year he’s one of the state’s best football players. <hr /> BREAKOUT STARS [player_tooltip player_id="200116" first="Alan" last="McKeefry"] - 2022 Quarterback - Spiro [player_tooltip player_id="63397" first="Braden" last="Browning"] - 2022 Athlete - Luther [player_tooltip player_id="237186" first="Cole" last="Scott"] - 2023 Running Back - Washington [player_tooltip player_id="199075" first="DeSean" last="Mays"] - 2023 Running Back - Vian [player_tooltip player_id="110739" first="Red" last="Martel"] - 2024 Running Back - Beggs <hr /> OTHER TOP PLAYERS [player_tooltip player_id="122426" first="Bai" last="Jobe"] - 2023 Defensive Lineman - Community Christian [player_tooltip player_id="38671" first="Carson" last="May"] - 2022 Quarterback - Jones [player_tooltip player_id="157515" first="Chance" last="Wilson"] - 2023 Quarterback - Rejoice Christian [player_tooltip player_id="38669" first="CJ" last="Brown"] - 2022 Running Back - Beggs [player_tooltip player_id="38734" first="Collin" last="Matteson"] - 2022 Athlete - Oklahoma Christian School [player_tooltip player_id="38720" first="Corey" last="Metscher"] - 2022 Running Back/Linebacker - Bethel [player_tooltip player_id="101410" first="Khelil" last="Deere"] - 2022 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back - Eufaula [player_tooltip player_id="38790" first="Kirk" last="Francis"] - 2023 Quarterback - Metro Christian [player_tooltip player_id="98172" first="Luke" last="Adcock"] - 2023 Quarterback - Eufaula [player_tooltip player_id="48987" first="Triton" last="Chandler"] - 2022 Athlete - Victory Christian <hr /> TOP STORYLINE Class 2A Continues To Be The State’s Deepest Class Marlow and Washington were both perfect coming into the Class 2A state championship game and the Outlaws came away with their first state championship since 1964. However, throughout the season, Class 2A was incredibly competitive and ended up being one of the deepest classes in the state. It’s been that way since Class 3A went to just 32 teams and instantly made 2A much more difficult to navigate throughout the season. Week in and week out, you had teams knocking off top ten opponents and beating up on each other. The four semifinalists, Beggs, Eufaula, Marlow and Washington all earned their spots in the final four with massive wins both at home and on the road. <hr /> EARLY LOOK AT 2022 After making it to the state championship for two consecutive seasons and having to walk away with the silver ball, the Washington Warriors are one of the very early favorites to win it all in 2022. And on the plus side, the last two teams that beat Washington in the title game are headed up to Class 3A as Marlow and Metro Christian move up next season. The Warriors bring back enough talent to once again be in the mix as the calendar flips to 2022. They’ll have plenty of company from some usual suspects as well. Their semifinal foe Beggs will be in the mix with a high-powered rushing attack. Millwood might have missed the playoffs in 2021 but the Falcons were incredibly young and should bounce back in a big way. Rejoice Christian will be right there once again with the majority of their starters returning and Class 2A will also see the addition of Pawhuska starting in 2022. Then you have teams like Jones, OCS and Vian who have found their way into the mix every single year. Like we always say when it comes to Class 2A, it’s going to be a very competitive and fun class to watch.